In that form
by Final SD
Summary: A grimm takes the form of a human and tries to deal with the urge to kill humans as he is drawn closer and closer to hatred and anger, fueling his own. But after finding a few humans that do not make him feel this hatred, he swears to defend them. Even against those just like himself.
1. Chapter 1

Black, almost tar like, liquid dripped from his flesh. As it moved down his skin it felt as if it was burning away everything it touched, like a hot iron being pilled across the meat and bone of his body. His mouth opened to cry out in pain but nothing came out other than a gurgle. Everything was hurting, everything was bleeding, breaking, burning, hurt, broken, bled, burnt was the sensation that crawled through his skull. The bones wrapped in his meat seemed to be shifting and morphing. Unnatural, odd, strange his flesh changed. A patch of skin too dark or too light. Too heavy others and too light most. From a put he crawled out within a dark and forgotten part of a forest or a cave or a hill or a valley or a lake. Those words he did not know. Ground was soft and mushy, parting too easy to be called earth and too heavy to be called water. The darkness that dripped off him fell into this – polluting it – the mush turning grey or becoming darkened. He reached out to grab hold of it as his throat burned more and more as it tried to form some sort of sound, but yet none did. Hands were too narrow, too naked from hair. As his eyes burned with tears and tar he stared at it and found two knuckle bones moving underneath his skin.

Shifting back and forth they moved as if they could think independent from him. The other hand was much the same but seemed to be stubbier. Shorter than what he thought to be right. The knuckles rolled forward as what should have been toes became longer and more narrow. Claws became shorter as more of the black liquid dripped off his flesh to continue polluting the ground. His eyes came to the center of his face as his gaze became one. His head was becoming more and more rounded unlike the narrow and extend skull his felt that should have been forming. The only thing feeling partially right was his hind legs but they too were stubbier and more rounded than what the voice whispered to him as he remained asleep. He brought back his front legs as they bent the wrong way and looked at the feet that had too long toes. His claws were short, growing only half an inch in front of his long toes, much like what his real feet looked like. The last of the tar dripped onto the mush below him, turning it grey and darker like his skin that was all too naked.

He felt the spots of hair across his body. Top of his front legs that bent backwards, the top of his head that was all too round, on top of his hind legs and his chest. He felt the front of his face and found the hardened portion to only cover the top of it, showing his jaw to the rest. But that was all there was to recognize of his face. Too flat to what he believed to be right. What he felt to be true. He crawled through the mud and his wrong feet went into water that was covered in moss and algae.

His eyes blinked as he pulled back his soft hand and stared at the algae on top of it and shook his hand to have all the mess fly off his hand. He stared at the trees that came up through the water with small spots of earth coming up at different spots. But otherwise it was just wood and water. He looked behind him and found whatever pit he came out of to have sealed itself. He turned sharply back to ahead of him, his mouth opening and closing.

 _"_ _I don't like this…"_ He thought. _"Wrong. Wrong. Wrong."_

He plunged into the water. After a moment he floated to the surface and breathed deeply as he began to swim slowly in a sort off doggy paddle. Moving ever forward. The water and moss parting as he swam. He couldn't think of any other way to swim but he also felt that what he was doing was wrong for whatever sort of body he was now possessing. Too narrow, too slim, he can't grab hardly and of the water but he continued to try to grab more and more. He could feel different plants as he passed over them, along with the dozens of different fish as they swam around him. It felt so weird. Like the level of sensation, he was experiencing was more than what he should have been feeling. For about ten minutes he saw like this before he felt his body getting tired, the way he was swimming was too much work for too little progress.

He climbed up onto the roots of a tree and overlooked the water as he breathed. He rubbed and flicked off the pieces of moss and plants from his body. At the water he stared as he breathed slowly, uncertain of how far he would have to keep swimming till he got anywhere. If anywhere is where he was going. Directions bounced around in his head, slamming into each other over and over again. Trying to follow any of them made his head hurt, so instead he just went straight and ignored them all. He rubbed the plate on his face as well as the smaller ones on his forearms and knees. There were also some plates on his knuckles as well, and he could also feel some sort of plates on his spine that were more rigged that the rest.

 _"_ _They will grow…"_ He thought to himself as he was still uncertain of how to make and sort of sound. The water in front of him bubbled. _"Yes. Yes. Yes. More plates, more cover, less naked. Hair will also change."_

He fell back into the water and once again began to swim as he was before. Then, before most people could react, a pair of jaws came from behind him and rocket at him. He spun around and shoved the jaws off to the side. The long scaly creature didn't seem to care as it came around once again and bit into the lower part of his leg and dragged him under. His hands clawed at the water around him as he could no longer breathe nor could he see clearly. Even as he felt a second eyelid come over his eyes to keep water out the level of foliage under the water was too much. All he knew is that this thing had his leg and it hurt, it hurt a lot.

It began to turn over and roll with his leg in its mouth and he spun with it as much as he could but it felt as if his leg was getting ripped off. Using his other he kicked at where he thought the head was, over and over again. Before it let go and circled around once again. He could also feel the water parting behind him as another one of the things came around. The second one went for his bleeding leg as the first went for his torso. The first one latched on his arm and pulled it away from him as it began to spin again. The second one he kicked away as he way yanked by the first one. His other hand went around and he dug his claws into the underbelly of the creature as it tried to pull off his arm but his nails barely cut through the scales. Underwater most of his power was going to be taken away and he was running out of air.

 _"_ _Get off me!"_ He yelled in his head.

He wrapped his legs and body around the creature to allow himself to roll with the monster. He pulled out his second hand, yanking out a dozen different scales as he did and jabbed them into creature's eye and ripped it out. The monster let go of his arm and swam away a bit as the second one came around once again and he punched it in the side of the neck as he went back to the surface and breathe deeply. Back under water he was pulled by the second one as it clamped its jaws around his hips. He wrapped his fingers around the top of its jaw and pulled it off him with a slight crack. The thing began to swim away once again but he had enough so he grabbed hold of one of its legs and ripped it off as he used his other hand to dig into the joint. He tossed the small leg off to the side as it swam away a bit. The first came at him and he dodged the bit and punched it in the stomach so hard that the water shook around his punch and the creature went in the direction of his punch.

He swam to it and began to claw at its stomach over and over again as he wrapped his right arm around the part of its body that connected to the tail. When he broke through all the scales he tore its stomach open and threw it off to the side as the waters turned red as its guts spilled out. The second came around one last time and he swung a fist over and punch the top of its skull as it connected to its body; knocking it out. Air left its nose and he grabbed its tail as he used one of the tree roots to climb up. He tossed the creature onto a patch of land as he breathed hard and dug his nails into the end of its tail with both hand before swinging it into trunk of a tree, breaking its spine and dropping it back into the water. Blood dripped from his stomach, leg, and arm. He looked at his body as he stood on his two legs before crouching back down and balancing himself as he breathed hard. Looking at his nails as they had several scales underneath them.

"Scales…" He breathed out. "Scale…. My name… Scale."


	2. Chapter 2

Scale had stopped swimming. There were dozens of other creatures like the two he fought and he knew that he couldn't kill them all. So he instead he launched himself from tree to tree within that swamp. His nails digging and cutting into the wood as he leaped from on to another. He could leap twenty feet easily. Though that number eluded his mind, he was only a day old after all. Or was he older? Could you count the time he existed in his pit as part of his life? He did initially know things. How to cut, how to punch, how to kick, and how to kill. Scale also knew he didn't like the water, not this water anyway, and would rather stay dry. He also knew something else. Well… not so much know as feel.

It was right there in his chest and in his head. That feeling of something being constantly pushed onto his torso and temple. Coming from different directions and distances. Closer was more intense than the others. He hadn't been alive, or awake, long enough to know what to compare it too. Just that it was always there, always going. He had only been awake for three days. Jumping from tree to tree, swimming rarely, looking for something. Something that he was uncertain of. Another thing like him maybe? Something that wasn't like him? No, no, no. The only other things he had met were things that were different than him, but those creatures that attacked him and the other things they ate.

He jumped onto another tree and rubbed one of the cuts on his legs. The bites and cuts were stinging now. Maybe that is what you compare the feeling from inside his chest and skull. They still bled time to time and he washed them out with water as he could but every now and again the stinging would come back and it would hurt too much to jump for a while. Right now was one of those times and he was biting his lip and he breathed hard.

"Ow…" He complained as he washed his cuts and marks. He let out a sort of growl as he did. He stood up as the pain left again and he continued jumping from tree to tree, from mud spot to mud spot. Continuing to look for whatever he was searching for.

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Scale jumped on top of what was probably and old cabin in the middle of that swamp. The sun was getting closer and closer to setting on his sixth day. The cabin was falling apart and only a small portion of the roof was left as well as only three of the four walls. The fourth wall seeming to be completely destroyed, not fallen apart, but completely broken. Scale jumped down into the old cabin and looked at the few crates that seemed older than the rest of the cabin. He went over to them and began to open them up to find different odd supplies. Hooks, rope, and the like. He picked up something and sniffed it before putting it down and he felt another shot of pain going through his cuts and bite marks and curled up and grinded his sharpened teeth together. Pain, sharp, constant, and all over. He hated it. He couldn't jump, walk, swim, nothing was all he could do in that state. He couldn't even wash out his wounds, it of course didn't stop the pain but it was better than nothing.

"Hey. Who's there?" A man's voice came over as the sound of a boat came around with a small light and shined at Scale's face.

Scale tried to stand up abruptly but cringed at the pain and fell back down as he wrapped his hands around one of his legs. Without any sort of major thought, the man jumped out of the boat and into the partially destroyed cabin and ran up to Scale as he shined the light at him. The man was a big man, not in muscle but in size, and wore overalls with no shirt underneath. The man took a step back for a moment at his appearance before shining the light onto his different wounds.

"You got bit." The man said. Scale growled and glared at the man as he crouched down, but at that point Scale was too weak and in too much pain to fight the man off. "Gator bites, they are infected." The man then gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm surprised they didn't rip a limb off. Come on. Let's get you fixed up."

The man picked up scale carefully and brought him over to his boat and put scale down into it and got back onto the engine and began to drive the boat away. After coming into an open part of the swamp the man grabbed a bottle of clean water and poured it over Scale's wounds.

"Hold on kid." The man said before Scale passed out.

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When Scale woke for what was the second time in his life he was in a small be in the corner of a small house filled with only basic furniture and decorations. He felt the cloth that was draped over him before throwing it off and trying to stand up to find that his lower body was covered as well. The sound of somebody stirring in the other room drew his attention as the man came into his room with a smile as he wore a dirty white tee shirt and jeans. At least that is what they would have been called if he knew the names of such things. If he knew the name, he would be wearing shorts.

"Hey there kid." The man said once seeing him. "Good thing I got to you when I did. Those sorts of bites, if they don't happen when they do, can kill a man in just two days."

"Where…." Scale tried to talk. He looked at his stomach, arms, and legs as they were gauzed.

"My house. Right on the bayou outside of the swamp I got you out of." The man said and gestured for scale to come into the next room. "You heal fast you know? The same day I clean'em, your wounds healed up. Guess that's what being a fauna is like."

"Fauna?" Scale asked as he followed the man into the other room. The man looked back at him and looked him up and down.

"You don't know a lot of things don't cha? I'm not gonna ask why. I have questions. But I don't want to ask them from a boy I found half dead and naked." The man said as he went to a fridge after pulling out a chair for Scale. "I'm a bit simple myself. At least when it comes to living."

"How do you live?" Scale asked for himself. The man grabbed a plate of food and took it out of the fridge and put it down on the table in front of Scale. It was a sandwich with a few sides.

"Day to day. Eat up." The man said. Scale picked up the sandwich and bit into and swallowed and began to choke on the first bite as it was literally his first bite of anything. The man patted him on the back till he coughed it up. The man made sure he was okay before Scale took another bite, that time it went down. "Go slower." Scale nodded and ate the rest of the plate with no issue. "You ok?"

"Yes…" Scale answered.

"Good." The man said as he leaned back. "The way I live is out here in the swamp and bayou. I fish and hunt and I take my stuff into town every week or so. The Gator season is gonna be going for another month and a half so I'm gonna be out a lot. Especially since I missed a day of lures when I grabbed you."

"What?"

"I got seven gators that day. I was setting todays lures before heading back. Only set half of them before I found you." The man said. "So I'm a few gators behind."

"The scaly things." Scale answered. The man nodded.

"Yes. The ones I figured attacked you. But I think that was more than worth it." The man said with a smile. "Look, I would like some help. You help me with some fishing and stuff, and whenever you need to you can go back to or go to where you want to. Would you like that.

"… Help you? Like you helped me?"

"Not exactly the same but yes." The man replied. Scale nodded. "Great. My name is Rick. Yours?"

"I get my name from… gators? Scale." Scale said. Rick looked a bit confused as he shifted his lips before shrugging and holding out a hand.

"Alright scale. From now till whenever, you work for me." Scale stared at his hand. Rick put a hand on his arm and brought Scale's hand up for a handshake. "We'll work on it."


	3. Chapter 3

The morning after Scale had woke up he and Rick walked outside. Rick had several pole stands set up as he smoked a light smelling pipe. Rick looked Scale up and down as Scale wore some clothes about three times his size that was better adjusted thanks to some rope and tape. Scale's skin though was either too tough or too thick – most likely both – to really feel it either way. Rick had a chair set out on what had to be the patio of his house as a small lantern shined behind them. He had Scale sit in that chair while unfolding a different chair as a medium sized dog sat up next to him. Scale eyed the dog for a bit as the dog only had three legs.

"Her name is Autumn. She used to be my hunting partner. But she's retired. Got an infection. Not from a gator like you. Something like gangrene, but you know, for dogs." Rick said. "She's good for keeping rats out of the house though." At this the dog barked and Rick laughed a bit. "So this is what I'm gonna be asking you to do for me. Kind of easy. If I spent a whole day out here I bet I could catch anywhere from 30 to 70 fish a day. Especially now."

He grabbed three fishing poles.

"Best I did was 80 when I was out here with my pa." Rick said.

"Pa?" Scale repeated confused.

"You know, my dad." Rick said as he put some bait onto the end of his hook and pointed at it. "See that? That's how you bait a hook; that's what I want you to do. After the bait is on all you got to do is pull this here trigger, pull back the pole, and whip it forward. Like this."

Rick did what he described and casted out the line of his pole as Scale watched. Most people can't see the line once it is thrown, but scale could see it as clearly as if it was a line of white yarn.

"Too bring it back to just crack it. Don't go fast though. Not right now anyway." Rick said as he brought back the line and handed the pole to Scale. "Now your turn. Do what I did."

"I'll try." Scale said and did exactly as he was asked.

The line though only went half the way that Ricks did, and this somehow annoyed Scale. But as soon as he felt Rick's hand on his shoulder as he patted it somehow calmed him. The look on Ricks face was calm and happy. Seeing this made Scale's eyes go wide. Something that his subconscious remembered was telling him that that expression was pushing him away, to stay away. But his own consciousness was telling him it was simply odd.

"See? You got it on your first try. Better than me. I hooked my pa's ear the first time." Rick laughed.

"But it didn't go as far."

"Don't really matter right now. You'll get it." Rick said as Scale brought back his line. "Go on. Recast it."

Scale whipped it out and the line went a bit further than his first cast and Rick patted him on the shoulder again with a smile. Scale returned the expression and showed off the fact that the majority of his teeth were sharp. Rick had him put the handle of the pole into the holder as they went over to the next rod holders and repeated the process. Rick leaned back and looked out and Scale mimicked him.

"Now, all you got to do is wait. When one of the lines starts going you just got to grab the pole and reel it in." Rick told him. Scale pointed.

"Like that?"

Rick eyes went wide as he saw one of lines getting pulled. He got Scale to hold onto the pole as they stood together and directed him as he reeled and tugged in the fish. Together they held up the 8-inch-long fish with a smile and Ricked used a camera on his phone to take a picture of the two of them. He showed Scale how to unhook the fish and put it away in a large container behind them as they put it on a layer of ice and closed it. They were mechanical and kept the fish chilled

"These containers together can hold a bit over 300 fish. I bring it in to town every weekend or so. I try to aim to fill one every day."

"Alright... So will I." Scale said. Rick stood up and looked at the sky.

"Think you can handle this for the day? I have to head out now to fill my tags."

"I will try." Scale said. Rick smiled.

"Good. While you are waiting you could crack open a book for a read. I only got about twenty of them, all good reads though." Rick said as he walked to his boat.

"Read?" Scale asked and Rick looked over his shoulder at him. "I don't know how to."

"Then how about I pay you by teaching you?" Rick said as he jumped into his boat with as it rocked in the water. "Autumn, make sure he keeps up the good work. No fish smaller than what you just caught, that clear?"

"Yes." Scale nodded. With that Rick drove off.

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When he came back Scale had caught twenty-five fish and was quite happy. Rick took a picture of the container before it sealed itself. Together they went back into the house and Rick began to teach Scale how to read. But it was too boring to talk about. At least fishing shows connection.

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So that is what their relationship was. Every day Rick would leave Scale there with his dog as he headed out to collect on tags in the swamp. He would then come back and scale would throw the several hundred pound monsters onto his shoulder and throw it in the back of Rick's truck so they could drive in town to the collectors. The two of them would unload the truck and turn in their catches. This is what they did for two weeks. One of the days Scale stood with Rick as he talked with some of his friends. Scale didn't talk much but he liked being with Rick as they talked with each other.

Driving back to his house. Rick looked at Scale as they headed back with a smirk.

"Hey Kid. That was a good haul of fish this week. Just like last week. So… How would you like to go Gator hunting instead tomorrow?"

"Really Mr. Rick?" Scale replied. He had heard a few people calling Rick mister and ended up picking it up. Rick nodded.

"Yeah. I'll have you pull them up for me. Think it like fishing but a lot bigger."

"I would like to help you Mr. Rick." Rick nodded as he looked out on the road.

"Then you'll be my new hunting partner."

So the following day the two of them got into Rick's boat and went out the swamp. The first line they pulled up to Rick gestured and directed Scale on home to grab and hold onto the line as he pulled it up. Scale pulled up the monster creature with ease despite it being around 9 feet long. Once it's head was out of the water Rick aimed his rifle and shot in the back of the head. Too bad they would see something much larger too soon.

"Get it into the boat kid." Rick said with a gesture. Scale grabbed the alligator and yanked it into the boat. Rick then handed Scale a tag and had him clamp it onto the alligator's tail. "You see where I shot it? That is the only part of a gators skin where you can pierce it with a bullet. Everywhere else too thick and too touch to pierce through."

"Like me?" Scale asked. Instinctually he reached to the back of his skull and found that one of the plates of his head covered it.

"No. You aren't an animal." Rick said. "Now, let's get going. We've got six more to catch today."

So they did. Day after day they went into the swamp for five days straight. Each time with a smile and each time with a boat filled with tagged alligators. They continued to catch gator after gator, tagged, and kept in their boat. The sun began to set one day as they reached their quota – plus two. Rick was laughing as he told a story and watched as Scale wrote down the lengths of their catches of that day, they saw a good sized alligator as it swam along on top of the water. Parting moss and water as it went. They two of them stopped the boat and watched. Rick grabbed the handle of his rifle and was about to stand up when they realized that they were not the only hunters in those waters.

The water around the Alligator broke apart in a massive rush as a massive snot of an alligator opened up around the swimming gator's tail. Scale and Rick's eyes and mouths opened wide as the mouth clamped down onto the alligator. The alligator tried to move away and fight but was pulled under as blood turned the water around it red. The sound of crunching bones reached Scale's ears. Rick grabbed Scale and pulled him down to the bottom of the boat as he clamped his other hand around his mouth. The water thrashed a bit before going still once more.

"Scale…" Rick whispered. "That is the same monster that destroyed the cabin I found you in. It's the king of the swamp. Remember that. We just live here." Scale nodded as he felt his body shaking. They got up and rick pointed to their smallest catch. "Toss that one out the side. Make sure Delrey is fed."

Scale did what he was asked.

"Let's go back." Rick said as he turned the engine back on again and drove the boat back to the house. In hopes of never seeing that thing again.


	4. Chapter 4

Scale walked into town alone, half covered in blood and his face shrouded in anger. In his left hand was a rifle and on his right shoulder was a massive tail of an alligator. He didn't wear a shirt and his sharpened plates on his spine shined in the rain. Water dripped off the bone mask that was the upper part of his face. The light rain turned the ground to mud, feeling just like the ground in which his coming tainted. Even if it was different he couldn't tell the difference. It was too long ago now for his mind to allow for any sort of memory other than the pain. The pain of being born – no – he wasn't born. He was formed. He was spawned. Created. Not born. That is all he could truly remember within his mind. The pain of being attacked by those alligators. That was all that circulated within his skull. As he walked into the collection station he heard a voice call out from the side. He looked over and found another hunter; not one of Rick's friends, just another hunter that knew nothing.

"Hey kid. That's a big tail. Where you get that off of? A twenty-footer?" He called over

"No." Scale responded and turned back forward. "Bigger."

When he walked into to collection and dropped the tail down in front of one of the workers there all they could do was stare at the tail then back to him. Scale's eyes burned red as they locked with the man's. The man scratched his neck and coughed.

"Where's the rest of it?" The man questioned. Scale sat down in chair and held onto the end of the rifle's barrel as he leaned on it. The several large cuts on his body slowly closing. "Well?"

"I'll tell you." Scale said as he stared at the tail. "I'll… tell you…"

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Ten days Ago. The day that they first saw Delrey.

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"This is what I wanted to show you." Rick said as they went over to the front of Rick's house as Autumn walked out to the front and yanked a tap off a boat that was practically the same as Rick's. He patted the boat with a smile. "I got you your own boat."

Scale's eyes went wide as they locked onto the boat then back to Rick with an awe struck expression.

"My own boat Mr. Rick?" He said in an awe struck voice that was on the boarder of quavering. Rick nodded.

"Yeah. With you I got a bit of extra cash in my pocket now. Which remind me." He said as he reached into his pocket as well and handed him a scroll like device, much like his own. He scrolled it a bit with his finger and opened up a bank app. "I made you a bank account. I hope you don't mind but I gave you the same name as me. Sabaton. Scale Sabaton is your name. It's got quite the ring to it doesn't it?"

"Yes, yes it does." Scale said as he ran two finger over the boat. His voice shaking like a child's.

"We've known each other for only about a month but you've been a good kid, and from what you've been telling me you got now where else to go." Rick said as he patted on the boat. "So what about it? Would you like to be my kid? I'm too old and too stubborn to get a wife now."

"I would like that. Yes, yes very much." Scale said and looked at him with a smile.

Rick looked more ready to cry than Scale at that moment. He told Scale to wait for a minute as he went into the house. He went inside and set up a stand and the two of them took a few pictures with their devices and laughed as Rick helped Paint a name onto the boat. Autumn came up to them and licked and played with them as the two of them laughed together. Scale feeling the highest level of happiness that he could ever imagine accruing. He liked the feeling but something deep inside his chest was telling him that it wasn't right. Like he was going against some sort of higher order. Going against what was natural, that is what he felt he was doing as he laughed with Rick. But he didn't care.

"Let's get this thing into the water." Rick said as the two of them jumped off it. Scale put a single hand underneath the boat and lifted it over his head as he walked around to the water and dropped it in. "That still impresses me."

"Thanks." Scale said with a smile. Rick then handed him a revolver.

"You know how to shoot now. I didn't have the money to get you anything bigger." Rick told him. "Works the same either way. Let's get some rest. I got a map laid out for you of lines I want you to check. This way we can spend more time just fishing and teaching you how to read."

"That would be fun." Scale said and the two of them went back into the house.

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And so the two of them went to their different boats and rode out into the swamp. But there was an issue that Scale came across quite quickly. He only had six bullets and he was supposed to get ten. So when he pulled up the seventh one up above the water he did the one thing he could think of: used his claws. Those steel like nails of his that curled ever so slightly. He took two fingers and jabbed them into the back of its head, which worked just as well. He smiled and dropped it into the boat. Then he continued to do so till he filled his tags for that day. Scale didn't say a word about it when he got back to his home, Rick being proud either way. The two of the celebrated his first time out by himself. It was a good day.

The next day was much the same. The first six, dead by the revolver, the two others dead by his claws. The following day he didn't even bring the revolver as he was never completely sure if he hit the spot despite himself. So it was for nearly a week. Then… then it happened. Rick didn't come back that night. Scale sat out in the porch as it poured down rain with Autumn as they waited throughout the night. Not moving from their spots as they sat together. His skin was beginning to wrinkle as the night dragged on and he had Autumn go back inside the house out of fear of her getting sick.

When the sun came up he got into his boat and drove it out towards the area in which Rick was supposed to be doing his hunting. He kept calling out Rick's name over and over, again and again, pausing his cry – his plea – only in hopes that he would hear Rick call back to him. TO answer, to yell, to whisper something back to him. Scale focused, focused his ears and eyes, trying to spot any sign of rick.

"Mr. Rick!" He cried out as the clouds once again returned overhead. "I-I caught two at once yesterday! They were real close Mr. Rick. I-I did it! I got the quota done. So if you are mad, mad, angry, about me not fulfilling it. I got it done Mr. Rick. Please… please, please, please call back! Autumn is crying! I just want to fish some more with you! I just want to sit with you as we read. I've been getting better. Mr. Rick!"

He pulled around a large tree and saw floating against one of the trees, a high powered rifle. Scale reached out his hand and pulled it out of the water. Looking ahead he saw… he saw broken pieces of wood within the middle of the of the lane, to either side of the lane had the front of a boat and on the other had and engine that was still running. Scale put the rifle down in the boat and jumped into the water. He swam under the water and through the moss and vines of the water. Three broken pieces of alligators floated under that water with him. Under that water he searched, frantically, for what had to be ten minutes at the least before swimming back to the surface just as once again began to rain.

He broke out of the water with such velocity that he landed on the boat with no issue. He breathed frantically as his nails dug into the haul of his boat. Moss and algae covered him. Shacking hands wrapped around the rifle as he clenched it to his chest. His heart beated slowly and hard, like a war drum, and his mind pulsed with each and every one of the beats of his chest. That sensation, that infection sensation that he felt from the outside world, was now coming from inside his own body. He was to rip it out, rip out his heart and brain and just throw them away. But as he dug his nails into his chest as he hugged that rifle the pain was too much and he had to stop.

"Just-just-just let me do it!" He cried out. "Let me rip it out, let me rip out the pain, why won't you let me?! Get it out of me!"

He held the rifle tighter as the rain washed away the moss and algae. Rocking slowly his lips quivered. He looked up at the sky as his eyes stung with each droplet of water till his own tears began to flow out of his eyes. A dark blue color. A blue that you could only see within the darkest part of the ocean. His lips bled with his chest after he bit into it and he began to pant and whine. His mouth opened as he breathed sharply with those pants and let out a cry. No, a cry was too human of what he did. It was like a screech, a howl, a growl, a roar, and wale. Something beyond unnatural. The sound itself was painful to hear. It echoed throughout the storm, replacing thunder as the loudest thing within that day.

But that howl, was not heard by anyone other than himself and once he was done he continued to cry to himself as he held onto that rifle to his chest. His eyes burning beyond any sensation describable. He must have cried for an hour before any sense returned to his mind.

"Kill…." He growled. "Kill… Delrey."


	5. Chapter 5

When he returned to the cabin that he and Rick shared he did the one thing he could think off. Wash himself off before going into the living room and sitting on the floor as Autumn sat across from him and whined. His eyes went up to the dog's and they stared into each other's for a moment before Autumn lowered her head and laid it down on the floor with a whimper and a cry. Scaled patted Autumn on the head and rubbed her ear. His time for crying was done for now, no matter how much he wanted to. No more tears were left in in his body for now. Autumn however needed to cry. She knew exactly what he knew at that point, and more than anyone she deserved to cry; maybe even more than Scale. She after all knew Mr. Rick much longer than Scale.

Using the rifle like a stick he pushed himself off the floor and went into the part of the cabin that Mr. Rick called his own. It was the only part of the cabin that had a door and it was the first time Scale was ever going to enter that room. His hand shook violently as he wrapped it around the hands. He breathed slowly and hard. In and out of his nose. His heart hurt as his hand touched the handle.

"No." He said. As he took his hand away from the door. "No."

Scale turned away from the door and went back into the kitchen area and laid the rifle down. He then took out the clip of the rifle as well as all the other parts he knew how to take out and laid them out to dry off. The rifle was water proof and could fire if it was submerged, that's what Mr. Rick told him, but he wanted to make sure it was back to being completely functional. Scale then pulled out his revolver and took out the bullets from the chamber and set them all standing up straight. He then pulled out a knife that was strapped to his leg and set it at the table as well.

"No." He grunted.

Scale walked over to one of the books that Mr. Rick showed him. It was filled with pictures and easy words to read and learn; it was one of the first things Mr. Rick showed him. Picking it up felt heavy in his hands and each turn of the page felt ever heavier. He then found the picture that he really liked. Scale then went out to his own boat that had dragged whatever remains of Mr. Ricks boat behind it. Both boats were about the same but he knew exactly what he wanted from the old boat. The curved pieces of metal that made up the haul. He brought in five pieces of those long flat pieces of metal and tossed them on the floor of the Cabin. This startled Autumn who was forced to go into Scale's area. Once more he went back out and grabbed a paddle and two wooden boards and a reel of the wire they used to catch gators with. He tossed all pieces into the Cabin before dragging and tossing himself into his bed with autumn.

"Tomorrow. I make it tomorrow." He said before collapsing asleep.

When he woke up he went back into the kitchen area and stared at the collection of metal and wood that he had made. He laid down one of the wooden boards and then took one of the pieces of metal that was a rectangular sheet once he uncurled it, and laid it over the board so it was overlaying it on either side. The edges were curved which he didn't like so he put one of his nails on the edge of the metal sheet and cut it so it became more jagged and repeated on the other side.

He did this with every piece of metal he could fit on the board with two inch gaps between each piece of metal. After this was done he broke off the handle of the paddle and laid it towards the bottom of the board as well. He didn't like how it looked though so he carved out a part down toward the bottom on both of the boards so the handle would sit in a little pocket when he laid the second board over it. After seeing this he nodded and grabbed the wire and began to wrap it all together. Pressing the pieces of metal between the boards. Autumn came over to see what he was dong as he continued to tighten the wire. He Stood up after he could no longer wiggle the pieces of jagged metal that pointed out from the boards. Almost like teeth. The weapon was about his height, including the handle that was about 6 inches, and must have weighed about 25 pounds. He liked the weight.

He went out and caught an alligator and stung it up at the cabin. While it was there he swung his new weapon and had the first of the blades go into its back. He pulled back hard and had the rest cut through the gator and clean in half.

"Yeah. That will do." He told himself as he tossed the body parts into the water.

If he got to dig his teeth into Delrey he will be able to cut something off. He will cut something off. Scale went back inside the cabin and grabbed Mr. Rick's rifle and began to put it back together. After I was put back together Scale went outside with an empty bottle and threw it about 50 feet up into the air and 70 feet away from himself as he aimed down the sites of the rifle and blew the bottle out of the sky. He grabbed a can and did the same once more. To can exploded like the bottle and he looked at the rifle and nodded.

"Yeah. That will do." He repeated as he entered the cabin again and made a bowl of food for Autumn before going to his revolver and checking the chamber and the ammunition before loading it all together. "I'm gonna kill Delrey. Don't worry Autumn. I will."

Scale looked back at the dog who had not touched her food as she kept her chin against the floor of the cabin. Scale stared at her for a bit but she did not return his gaze. He went over to her bowl of food and scooted it with his foot in front of her face. She didn't move or react. Scale knelt down to her and rubbed the back of her ear with an expression that would have been her equivalent. He pushed himself off the floor and went back to his weapons. He was going to need every bullet he could gather. But it was already late, he already took too long making his weapons and testing it. He needed to rest.

* * *

The next day when he woke up he found Autumn's food bowl untouched as she continued to lay in front of it. Scale felt like his chest was getting torn open again with the sight. He wanted so badly to have her just eat, to live, and be happy. But it wasn't going to happen. She needed to grieve just like he is. His just involved several dozen metric tons of living flesh becoming dead. Scale opened up the door of the cabin just a bit and headed towards the door to the boat.

"Autumn." He said while wrapping his fingers around the knob. "You need to eat. You need to live. If I'm not back within 3 days, you can leave. But I will kill Delrey. I promise you that."

With that he left the cabin with his weapon that he tossed into his boat along with the rifle before kicking it off the dock and jumping into the boat as it got about ten feet out. He looked back at the cabin and grunted with a nod before turning on his boat's engine and headed out for his hunt. This was going go hurt.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the super long wait on this one. Was waiting to hit 1,000 views.

* * *

Scale continued through the Bayou on his boat with his weapon strapped to his back and Mr. Rick's rifle on the floor of the boat. Parting water slowly and the engine rumbled quietly with his hand on the steering, pushing deeper and deeper into the alligator infested waters His eyes sharper, ears keener, than anything within a hundred miles. His almost black knuckles turning into a grey as they wrapped themselves around the metal bar that was for the engine. With such force that the bar shaped under his fingers to create the mold of his hand, the bar bending but not breaking. His read and yellow eyes shifting constantly around the water, darting back and forth like a dog running around a field. He saw that another lure that he had set up had been triggered and pulled into the water and he brought the boat over to it. Grabbing the line, he pulled up with one hand and in front of him and with his other hand he put his middle and index finger together and pierced through the alligator's skull and tossed the corpse into the boat with the five others. Almost violently he threw the body, shaking the boat as another 600 pounds was added to his boat.

He steered his boat out of the Bayou again after putting bait on the hook of the lure. Yes, more bait, he needed more, kill more, get more meat, kill them. As he passed the mud under a line of trees a gator hissed as him and he looked at it with his burning eyes and growled at the reptile, no a growl would have undermined it, it was a mixture between a roar and a howl. His boat shook and a ripple went throughout the water and the Gator shot into the water out of fear. Scale continued on forward, heart beat loud, palms sweaty, knuckles white, and hands covered in blood he kept going. To where he first met Mr. Rick in that destroyed shack he went and there you would see a pile, a pile of the corpses of at least thirty alligators stacked on top of one another while other scattered about as they floated in the water. He pulled up his boat to pile and grabbed two out of his boat and tossed them on the pile. Snakes, frogs, fish, and birds gathered around the massive pile of corpses a Jager stood upon them all, their blood flooding the water. More meat, more bait, more blood.

Hour, two, three passed as blood of beasts spread and deluded in the water. Sun gone down as clouds come out for another spout of rain and thunder. Rain water pounding loudly against the water of the bayou and swamp. Rain hitting the alligators and taking more blood into the water as it rolled off. Only then did the water begin to part. Fast and massive the water parted as the scales the size of fins from small emerged and moved towards the pile. Water falling off the top of a massive mouth as Delrey opened his massive Jaws to gorge himself upon the offering. His body came partially out of the water and only then did Scale show himself. Holding the boat overhead and jumping from behind the pile of corpses he launched himself at the body of Delrey. Wood and metal exploded against Delrey's body and knocking him away from the pile of corpses.

"TIME TO ADD YOUR BODY TO THE PILE!"

Scale yelled as he pulled his weapon off his back and pierced the back of Delrey only a few inches, but it was hold, pulling down with the weapons teeth he cut a decent depth cut on the side of Delrey's body. The monster alligator hissed out pain with such a volume that it shook nearby trees. Scale's weapon broke but he did not care. Pulling back a fist he slammed it at the spot where he had cut, the force sending a wave of muscle and fat to be traveled for three feet in each direction. Delrey moved away from the pile after that and swam around the destroyed Shack as Scale entered the water. Delrey circled the shack and opened its jaws one gain and attempted to bite Scale. However, Scale punched Delrey in the snout while underwater which forced Delrey to miss the bite as he reeled. Delrey turned its body as sharp as it could and slammed its tail into Scale's body and sent Scale rocketing out of the water and crashing into a tree and breaking it in half.

Scale drug his claws into the mud as he landed on the other side with the top half of the tree landing behind him. Looking up he bared his carnivorous teeth as Delrey came out of the water and ran at him. Scale jumped back and landed on top of the tree and jumped off that as Delrey bit down, breaking the entire trunk of the tree into splinters. Scale landed on Delrey's back and he pulled out his revolver and shot all size shots into the spot where its weak spot should have been but none of the bullets did any more than dent the massive scale that covered it.

 _"Die you monster!"_ Scale screamed in his head.

Delrey began to roll with Scale on his back and rolled straight through two trees and crushing Scale underneath his weight and wood. The rolling only stopped when the two of them fell back into the water. Vine wrapping themselves all around Delrey. Delrey rushed Scale again underwater and chomped down at him. Scale propelled himself down in the water to the bottom and from the bottom launched himself upward again and slamming his fist into Delrey's jowls. Delrey winced back before swinging his claw at Scale and slamming him into the bottom of the Bayou and knocking the air out of him. Scale shot out of the water and dug his claws into the bark of a tree as he breathed hard. One, two, three breaths need to breathe. Delrey emerged out the water and turned to Scale with a hiss.

"COME ON YOU BIG BASTARD! JUST TRY TO KILL ME!" Scale called to Delrey.

Delrey charged at him and smashed through the tree as Scale jumped off it. Scale watched as more vines and wood gathered around Delrey before jumping and attempting to cut though its body with his claws. His claws broke off a massive sized scale but did little to the actual skin after that before he had to jump out of the way as Delrey swung its body around and broke down two trees with its tail. The 55-foot monster would not slow no matter what. Luckily neither would Scale. Scale grabbed a fallen log and swung it as hard as he could onto the back of Delrey. The log cracked against the impact and Delrey hissed and went toward Scale with its jaws. Its Jaws came down onto him and he put both hands on either side of a tooth as his feet planted themselves on the bottom. The force must have been at a minimum of five times greater than any alligator. Scale's arms and legs shook and bent but they would not break as he held the monster's jaws open. Out of instinct Delrey began to roll again and into the water the two went once again with more vines wrapping around Delrey. More and more they went as Scale held the Jaw open, even underwater, with teeth grinding and eyes burning he held. He fell to a knee in the mouth as the pressure was unrelenting. Never break, never give, don't die.

All of a sudden Delrey stopped moving abruptly which gave the monster a pause in the pressure enough for Scale to escape its jaws. Scale bursted from the water and dug his claws into the side of another tree as he stared at Delrey as dozens and dozens of vines wrapped around the monster's body with the weight of half of the trees and logs the two of them broke or unearthed adding their weight against Delrey. Scale jumped onto Delrey's back and began to tear at the back of the monster's skull. He only had a maximum of 5 seconds before Delrey would get out. More than enough time. Enough time to carve. Enough to rip of scales. The overlapping armor that covered the soft spot of Delrey's skull was revealed. Scale pulled back his fist and let out a scream that once against drowned out the thunder as he punched harder than he had ever done before. He was covered in cuts and his arms and legs were most likely fractured but when his fist hit that spot, for a moment all weakness was gone from him.

The force rattled Delrey's brain inside of its skull a hundred times over while Scale's fist pierced some of the grey matter. Delrey's skull fractured and collapsed onto its brain. Scale pulled his fist out and put both of his fists together and swung them both down together and fully collapsed the monster's skull into its brain. Delrey went still and Scale stood up with his knuckles and body covered in both his blood and Delrey's.

"That… was for Mr. Rick."

* * *

The group of hunters, fishermen, and trappers took five boats out to the broken shake and found Delrey's body stack on top of the corpses of Alligators. Scale leapt from the foremost boat and sat on top of Delrey's corpse and looked down at the rest of them. Scale's body was free of anger and he showed it in how simply – unnaturally – calm he was. With one leg bent and his body shirtless he rested his elbow on his knee and from behind his bone mask he glared at the other hunters as they looked at him in awe.

"I-I didn't believe him…" One of the men said looking at the pile.

"How much?" Scale asked.

"Huh?" Most responded.

"For all of it." Scale answered. "32; 8-12 footers, and Delrey. How much are you going to give me?"

"Uh… well 20 per foot… so probably 6,500 for the normal ones. Then Delrey… I say 100,000."

"200,000." Scale called down. "For it all. Want a jacket out of him."

"So you are making demands now?" One of the hunters asked. Scale pointed the rifle at the man's head.

"200,000." Scale repeated. "Otherwise… just try to take this from me."


	7. Chapter 7

Scale Sabaton returned to what he called his home and found Autumn asleep. Curled up on Mr. Rick's bed. He crouched down next to the three-legged dog and put a hand on her shoulder. Scale rubbed her back, parting the old dog's fur like a wave does to water in the ocean, with a smile on his face and eyes soft behind his bone mask that was his upper face. His near pitch black skin seemed odd against the bright colors of the dog's. The protruding bone began to poke out from his forearms and form nubs – like the tips of spears – with his once pink hair on top of his arms and head darkened to a more prominent red. He was stronger now than when he first set out to kill Delrey, maybe his body hated the idea of how close he came to being killed and force him to evolve, or maybe it was his body maturing. Similar spikes appeared on the back of his lower leg and his claws became an almost bleach white. All the same he made sure to pet Autumn as she remained asleep and still on the bed. He shook her a bit.

"Hey girl." He told her. "I killed Delrey. I made up for what it did to Mr. Rick. So you don't have to be sad no more." She remained still. "It's alright Autumn, I'm going to go now. One of the other men will take care of the house and you. I have to go to this one place. I don't know what it is but something is pushing me towards it now. So I'm sorry I have to leave you." She remained still. A tear rolled down Scale's cheek as his lips quivered as he continued to smile. "I'm sorry. You get some sleep now."

He left his home wearing nothing but a new pair of jeans, a holster with his revolver, and boots made of Delrey's leather; a tooth dangled from a necklace. His Jacket would take far too long for him. Besides, his spikes would not allow for any sort of normal shirt. His jeans however had already been torn open from the small spikes on the back of his legs so they had opening behind the back of his lower legs. He went up the ground transport with one of the men from town leaning against the transport next to the door.

"Take good care of her. Alright?" Scale asked. The man nodded and Scale jumped into the transport and sat in the very far back of it and allowed his eyes to fall shut. Tired.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scale stepped off the transport and found himself in one of the many towns of mistral that would still be roughly another ten days' drive and three days by air to actually be in the capital city by the same name as the kingdom. That is why he needed to get of the transport to find an aerial transport As he got off the transport people paused and looked at him in shock and fear as his feet met the ground. Pat, pat, of his feet echoed only for an inch off the ground. He scratched the back of his head and kept moving forward, don't pause, don't stop, just keep moving passed the gauzes. Follow the eyes kept following him as he went forward down the street. The Transport kept driving down the street with gauzes coming from it as well for as long as the people within the vehicle could see him. It was wrong, wrong, wrong in his mind these gauzes. That feeling of pain returned with these people inside of his skull – the pounding, the tearing, the burning feeling – returned that he felt only a few times before. Scale pushed it out his head as best as he could but whenever he passed another human the feeling would grow. His body moved away from them in instinct while another instinct cried out from inside of him.

Kill, Kill, Kill.

Over and over again the signal came from his mind and to his muscles to reach out and rip these people apart. Rip and tear through their weak bodies. That would stop the feeling, that would get the burning out of his head. Teeth grinding, sweat dripping, heart beating. Pushing the urge down more. He didn't understand the feeling but he didn't want to kill people, he didn't want to hurt people. But the feeling only seemed to grow longer he was around them. Around the people. He felt this way in the transport but nowhere near what he felt now. His body carried him without knowing away from it all. His hands braced himself against a statue and when his eyes opened up to it he looked up to the building that it belonged to and found one word.

"Library…" He almost panted out.

As it was calm inside the old building – free of the people that made his head hurt – made of brick and wood. He looked around almost frantically before entering the building. The build itself only being comprised of two levels he looked at the several dozen different book shelves on each level with a slightly open mouth as he looked at them in a sort of awe. His feet carried him as he walked between the rows before coming to a centralized circular desk where a woman in her mid-forties sat half unconscious. She shook herself awake and looked up at him with a level of fear. He could hear her heartbeat increase in speed and some of that level of pain returned to his head.

"Wha-what are you?" She asked before she could catch herself. Scale rubbed his skull mask.

"My dad called me a Fauna." He said rubbing the mask, she seemed to calm and the pain began to go away.

"Oh… do you not know? You shouldn't where that mask in public then." She told him. "They aren't view as the protesters they once were you know."

"It's part of my face Ma'am." Scale told her. She put her hand to her mouth.

"Oh my… I am so sorry dear. I'm so sorry. Well, how can I help you?" She tried to get everything back on track with Scale. Scale was simply happy that the majority of the pain was now out of his head.

"I want books. One with mostly pictures. About why you are afraid of me. I get a lot of looks like what you give." Scale asked her.

Half an hour later she brought him a stack of books. They were mostly more wide than they were tall with illustrations on every other page, with the rest having a paragraph or two explaining the image and so forth. Scale thanked the woman and she said that he could ask her to help him read if he wanted it otherwise she would return to her desk till he returned the books. First book open, page after page, he looked at them. It was so simple yet so complicated at the same time. The words he knew and he knew how to say them but about what they talking about he had no idea. But he learned that Fauna were humans that seemed to have been blended with animals.

 _"No… I'm not like that."_ He thought as he kept reading. He put another book to the side and in the middle of the pile was a book labeled; "Grimm, keep them out."

He opened the book and on the second page he found a picture of Beuwolf. His heart stopped as he looked at the figure. Back and forth his eyes darted with not too much time on either one. He rolled his toes inside of his boots and felt his claws from his feet rubbing against the inside. The claws on his fingers he compared to the Beuwolf's and the mask he stared at while rubbing his own.

"I-I'm a grimm…" He said with shaking fingers. "I'm a monster…"

He remembered when he was spawned. How he was… wrong. How he was different from what his bones and blood told him what was normal. He pushed himself away from the table with the books gather in hand and went back over to the desk where the woman sat and returned the books before leaving the Library once again and running into the town while suppressing the urge to kill all that he passed. He saw a clothing shop and went inside and grabbed a dark red cape with a black hood and bought it within two minutes and throwing it around himself. It covered the top of his head and the majority of his upper body but his arms would be scene unless he kept them close to his body. The cape fell around his body and covered him as he kept walking down the town. He looked up at the mountain that he was meant to climb as to reach the landing strip for another transport.

 _"_ _Mistral…"_ He thought in his mind. _"What I want is in Mistral… I'll learn what I need to when I get there."_


	8. Chapter 8

Looking out of the window and over the clouds Scale questioned everything that was transpiring in his head. Scale had up his scroll for a moment at the ticket booth to pay for his ticket before practically dashing onto the transport ship as it remained docked in a port built into the side of the peak. The only thing that allowed him to remain hidden was his cloak to cover his shadow like flesh. The bones of his body cutting into the fabric of both his seat and cloak slightly despite his efforts to keep his weight from pushing the spikes any deeper into either. The claws that were his nails, however dug into his own flesh underneath the cloak. Deeper into his skin and muscle his bleach white nails turned crimson while his serrated teeth grinded slightly against the other as his heart beating hard. Even though the transport had scarcely could call the number even a handful, the same pressure and pain continued to bombard his mind – only less abundant.

Pain, pressure, annoyance, irritation like a plague continued to exist in his consciousness. His body shook slightly as he continued to dig his claws deeper into his flesh. The sound of a wailing child increased this pressure in his body as the baby irritated every other passenger onboard. With their annoyance grew his pressure. The clouds further out began to turn grey almost to equal his rage before his vision slowly began to shift into the spectrum of red. His gaze went back into the cabin and found black streaks of what seemed to be similar to cloud going into each different passenger with the wailing of the child. The largest trails coming from the three people closest the mother and the child. One of the people looked back and locked eyes with him for a moment. Within that moment, Scale felt… things emitting from this person: annoyance, impatience, hunger, and as she looked at him; fear. Another wave of the child's wailing echoed through the passenger cabin and the streaks flared. Scale got to his feet and darted back into the bathroom towards the back of the ship and stared into the mirror at his red reflection.

Blood stained fingers dripped into the sink as he gripped hard onto the metal. The four puncture holes on each of his biceps began to close as his chest rose and fell. The trails of darkness crawled into his vision and the metal bent further with a creak. Another wail of the child and the metal began to tear as he shook more violently with more violent shaking while his knees began to buckle. His serrated teeth almost began to cut into his gums as he tasted blood. Another wail and everything suddenly went calm as he stood up straight and turned to the door. He walked back out into the cabin and followed the black trails toward the front of the passenger's seating. His fingers of his right hand curled and his claws cut into the seats as he passed, leaving marks with each aisle. One more aisle and he would reach the mothers as she held the child…

Alarms sounded, and Scale was pulled out of his trance and the captain spoke onto the speakers.

"Everyone remain in your seats and strap in. Nevermore Grimm are attacking, but we have several huntsmen and guns on this ship; everything is going to fine." The Captain said. Another streak formed coming from the cockpit.

"Grimm…" The word dragged itself out of Scale's throat with a growl as he looked outside and saw a massive black wing crossing across the side of the ship followed by the sound of rapid gunfire. The streaks the pressure increased again from each person. He grabbed his head and fell to a knee shaking from the pressure that was increasing from each direction… all but one.

"Hush… It's going to be ok." The mother said as she smiled and held her child to her chest. The child had seemed to have vomited but, yet the mother clung to him all the same. While the pressure increased from all around hers almost seemed to subside just a bit. This gave Scale a moment of clarity.

"… Will the Grimm break the ship?" He asked in a growl, the mother looked at him.

"Not, not unless they are stopped."

"I need to get to mistral…" He said forcing himself to his feet. "I need to stop them… keep the child quiet…"

Scale ran back into the second section of the aircraft that was normally off limits for cargo and luggage but as he did not see any one, it was better. He crouched down slightly before jumping up and punching a hole through the roof of the ship and landing towards the tail of the ship. The crimson faded away – though the pressure still remained to a degree – as the claws of his feet cut through his shoes and into the steel of the ship. He looked forward as two lines of bullets fired out into the sky at the flock of nevermores. With claws in steel, he ran forward at a Nevermore just as it was about to claw into the stop of the ship and slammed his shoulder into it. Each nevermore having a wingspan of about twenty feet. It slammed into the top of ship with its body and a thud. Scale growled at it as it slipped off and screamed before flapping its wings and coming back towards the ship. Another nevermore swept down and knocked down a hunter off a gun perch and sent them screaming down into the sea of grey and black clouds. Scale watched in horror as his eyes allowed him to follow the man for hundreds of feet beyond normal. The pressure from that man spiked before… vanishing.

A nevermore – now taking notice – swept down at Scale with it's massive talons and he grabbed it by the talon as it came at his face and his claw cut into the steel as he was pushed back several feet. He growled as he swung up his free fist and slammed it into the chest of the nevermore. The nevermore screamed as it's ribs broke apart. Scale slammed it down into the top of the ship and punched it once more in the head to make it go limp. Once limp he grabbed it by the body, spun once, and propelled it at another nevermore where it's beak impaled through the side of another nevermore and the two fell dozens of feet before turning into shadows amongst the clouds. He saw another nevermore sweeping down at another one of the huntsmen and – by instinct – Scale ripped off the top layer of steel from the ship and threw it into the path of the nevermore, decapitating it before it reached the hunter. A Nevermore swept from behind him and knocked him forward. He began to fall off the side of the airship, but his nails dug into the steel before falling off completely. He pierced the steel with all four appendages as he crawled back up. Scale picked up speed along the length of the ship before leaping up and slashing at the back of neck of the nevermore. With his strength and momentum, he brought it down with him back onto the airship, towards the tail, the nevermore screamed and he brought back his claw out of its flesh and with a second swipe of the same hand nearly cut off it's neck. The Nevermore fell back behind the airship and turned into shadow.

"Enough…" A twisted and almost scratching voice called out. A moment later a foot of a nevermore pinned him onto the top of the ship. Scale looked up and saw a humanoid figure though instead of arms had wings spread and just like him… had black skin and a bone mask. The Beak like mask found itself directly in front of Scale's face. "Beo…"

"What?" Scale growled. The second foot wrapped around his head and clamped down like a vice. The figure flapped its wings and flew up off the ship as Scale clamped his hands around the ankle.

"Break free… you fall to your death." The being began to fly away with him in its grasp.

Just before the grey and black clouds took his vision, Scale watched in awe and horror the airship break into three different parts, a massive spike of pain… and then… relief.

* * *

What must have been hours, or at least what felt as such, the two flew before going towards a mountain top covered in trees and protruding stones. Once about fifty feet or such from the ground the being let go of Scale's skull and he was sent propelling towards the mountain top, slamming into a tree trunk and then a boulder before hitting the soil of the mountain. The being began to flap and flutter down before standing on a branch some ways up a tree. Scale pushed himself up to his feet as his wounds closed and turned up to the being with teeth bared. He leapt at the being and was met with a kick to his forehead. And sent slamming into another boulder as it cracked.

"You do heal faster…" It said as it squatted down on the branch.

"Can you do that again? I would like to see it again. Please do it again." A voice spoke coming from the side ending with a snort. This person was a full foot shorter than Scale but had bone plates covering much of its body like a suit of armor with small tusks like protrusions coming from its "breast plate". It was also built like a wall comparably. It snorted again

"It's not much of a fight, no point." A much deeper voice, like a bellowing growl, spoke from behind the tree Scale collided with and came out to show another figure that was two feet taller than Scale with a massively built upper body and extremely sturdy, but slightly stocky, legs. Its stomach was a bit larger than its upper torso built it appeared to be from muscle and not so much fat. He would even be another yet another six inches taller than Scale if not for its form causing it to lean forward slightly crouched with its round bone mask and several plates across its back causing it to almost impervious from attacks from behind.

A clicking sound came from underneath a lip of the mountain and Scale looked to an armless humanoid that lacked eyes. Its entire upper torso was covered in small bone plates with it's black flesh appearing almost as cracks in stone. Its jaw was also free from bone plates though the rest of its head seemed to be comprised of nothing but. It wore pants oddly enough beyond the fact it wore nothing else. It's black and purple tongue slithered out for a moment before returning inside as it made more clicking sounds. Scale pushed up to his feet and growled at all of them as he put his back to a tree.

"I could slam you into the ground again… if choose." The first figure stated.

"Never, that's enough." A voice behind the armless being came. "Ur, Tusk, Stalk, please refrain from hurting Beo and further; our healing does only go so far."

The figure came out in what appeared to be a suit like outfit with very little bone spikes of plates being noticeable on any part of him. This was however allowed to be the case as on his back spouted two almost majestic wings and a tail with a bone tip came from his back. At his side was a sword of some sort as he wore a bone mask that was similar to Never's though making up a greater portion of his face. He stepped out towards Scale as he regained his breathe.

"After all… fighting would end badly for you." He said crossing his arms. "This are the names we have decided would best fit with us, though to be different from the rest of our kin we… changed them slightly. I am Griff."

"I-I'm Scale." Scale stuttered. The shorter armored figure snorted with a laugh with crossed arms.

"Wolf pup thinks he's people." He said with a snort. "Say again what you think you are."

"I suppose it would be expected." Griff said stepping up towards Scale. Scale took up a defensive stance and Griff stopped approaching and almost seemed to sigh. Scales fingers remained half curled like claws. "You were formed from one of the pits, one further out than the rest of ours for some reason, but it might have to deal with what your purpose is. What our collective purpose is."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Scale demand.

"You – just like us – are a humanoid grimm." Griff told him. "I rather you lower your stance."

"I want you to make sense." Scale stated. Griffin brandished his sword. His sword was primarily red with white edges and a black handle. The sword was double edged but both edged were extremely jagged and rough looking, no straight or smooth edges to be found on this blade. "So you best-!"

He went silent as Griff grabbed the handle of his sword with both hands, swung once, and cut off three fingers off of Scale's fingers off his left hand; all with a singular motion done in a single second. His pinky up to his middle. Scale looked at his hand in shock before he was pinned against a tree by his throat as Griff held the end of his sword to his throat.

"Don't panic. They'll grow back." Griff said pulling back his sword as Scale stared at the stubs as a shadow essence began to almost pour out of it and begin to solidify. By the rate it was going it would take less than a minute for them to come back. "But now that you understand me, I think I should better explain what you are, Beo."

"…That's not my name."

"Birth name, not your chosen one." Griff said sitting down on a boulder and putting the end of his sword on the ground while holding onto the handle with one hand. "We were created to kill a certain group of hunters."

"The ones that kill grimm?" Scale said while Ur came up next to Griff. Griff nodded and rolled his fingers around the handle of his sword several times.

"Yes. The ones that kill your brothers." Griff answered. "You are meant to kill a woman.

"Why me?" Scale asked.

"Not sure, last born but still called _the first,_ but you are to find them." Ur said with a shrug. "You find the woman, we find the rest, and we kill them."

"Who's the lady?" Scale asked as his fingers were now halfway grown.

"One who would bare winter." Griff said standing up and walking over to Scale. "That is all we know of her. But you," Griff placed a hand on Scale's shoulder. "you can find her. Then we may be free of this pain."

"Yeah, what happens after that?" Scale asked. The one known as Tusk began to snort and laugh.

"The wolf pup knows nothing. How can it know so little?" Tusk snorted as he spoke. Griff looked over in his direction and narrowed his eyes; Tusk went silent the moment their eyes met. Griff turned back to Scale.

"Beo, little brother, you have to do this for us. Not for those formed with you but all Grimm. Otherwise we shall forever be in this torment caused by those soul bound." Griff said and squeezed Scale's shoulder lightly. "You know this right brother?"

"…" Scale looked at the hand on his shoulder and then back to Griff's face.

There was no pain when with his brothers. No pressure in his skull driving him to kill in which he constantly had to fight against. No ridicule against his flesh, there was nothing with his brothers causing him pain. He felt a jagged piece of glass in his left pocket. When he reached in he pulled out his Scroll and stared at the broken screen with him standing side by side with Mr. Rick. This feeling with his brothers was like it was with his Father. It was just missing something… something he was unsure of. Scale pushed the broken screen back together and looked back up to Griff. Scaled pulled his hand off his shoulder and grinned while clamping their hands together.

"Away with the pain." Scale said. Griff smiled back and squeezed their clamped hands together even tighter.

"That's my brother." Griff said taking back his hand. "Beo after you find her, seek us out. We shall be spread across Mistral." Griff looked around to the rest of his brother. "Let's head out."

"Good luck… Beo." Never said taking to the skies.

"Don't take all the fun for yourself." Ur said before stomping away.

"Don't get killed wolf pup." Tusk said before following Ur. Stalk made a clicking sound a few times before sitting down in the shadow from where he only emerged for a second. Griff patted Scale on his shoulder a few times before flapping his wings a few times as to hover a foot or so off the ground.

"Remember, kill the one that would bare winter." Griff then took to the skies as well. Scale looked at his newly formed fingers as the nails grew back into their curved claw like shapes.

"I… I didn't feel anything."


	9. Chapter 9

Step, step, motion, motion, foot by foot, mile by mile. Walking with his feet carrying Scale further and further towards a direction in a hypnotic trance through most of each day. Moving ever closer to this location he knew near nothing about but all the same, yearned for it more than most would desire to breathe. Hunger did not waver him and the few times it demanded to be heard he would quickly feed his inhibiting craving for flesh by devouring a member of the wildlife. He tried to make their deaths quick cutting opening the vein of their necks often did the trick. Every once in a while he would see a shadow trail from a human – or possibly a fauna – which he has since dubbed a "Despair trail". He followed these trails only once to enter the Crimson sense and observe the one causing such trails to be formed.

Following this trails eventurally led him to the place that turned his world crimson. A small city with a population with the population of roughly 15,000 people with a mix of humans and fauna. Fauna being only appearing one for every twenty humans that Scale could count. The city itself was contained within the space of only about one square mile with most of the buildings being a normal one story tall though there was a section of the city where the buildings were five or six stories tall; the city being built in the style of Asian architecture for the most part. Crimson plagued the corners of his eyes at the moment he entered its limits. People oozed it here as Scale could literally feel hatred and greed coming off these people, the only reason that his mind and flesh did not ache was for the fact that fear did not seem to come from them. Though the hatred and greed made his muscle to be continually tense and his mouth tasted faintly of salt.

Scale entered a store and purchased an almost full covering outfit that comprised of a heavy black hoody, a yellow long sleeve shirt, and new jeans of a higher end of what he previously owned. His revolver remained at his hip despite his desire to draw it and put a bullet in each of the skulls of those he sees. His entire body aching for the ability to release this rage. He walked down the street his fingers twitching and his body tensing he breathed hard and steadily like a beast ready to pounce. As Scale passed an alley he felt as if his stomach wanted to wretch itself out of his body with the flavor in his mouth becoming even more prominent. His desire to rip and tear apart those around him also increased as his ears just as his ears picked up a conversation from down the alley.

"Come on… just f***ing give it to me already!" A man yelled followed by a slap and a yelp from a girl. Scale turned his head down into the alley as crimson overtook his vision. Scale walked down the alley behind a man in a large fur coat with a raised hand a young fauna girl on the ground in front of him "You worked yesterday, right? Then where is -!"

The last word lost itself in his throat as a hand pierced through his chest from behind, the palm thrusting straightforward and fingers curved into a claw like a form. The man looked behind him as his body went limp from him and stared into the yellow eyes of Scale. Scale pulled his hand out of the man's torso and let him drop down to the ground. The fauna girl panted as she stared up at scale with wide eyes filled with fear and panic… both slowly lowering.

"Go…" Scale growled as his claws from his bloodied hand dragged through the stone by the building to his right. The fauna girl nodded and then ran away down the alley. Scale wiped off his hand on the body of the man as color returned before walking out of the alley.

Another wave of pain came to Scale as he felt his stomach wrenching and growling at the same time. He watched as a large black despair trail forged in the air in front of him and bringing him down the street. Foot by foot he walked towards a red building of about seven stories tall and looks up at the red building with laughter coming from inside. The building itself stood alone compared to the rest of the closely packed buildings of the city. A parking lot was built around it with a small parking garage to the right of the front entrance. The building was obviously owned by what appeared to be the richest man in the city as its lot was also gated off. Scale walked up to the gate and was stopped by two large guards in armor holding assault rifles.

"Sorry pal. Only people with passes can get in." One of them said stepping up to him. Scale looked up slowly and stared at the man directly in his eyes. "What the hell is up with your eyes?"

"Let, me, pass." Scale growled. The two men chuckled and the one that remained silent pointed his rifle at his head.

"You got about 3 seconds before a bullet goes through your skull." The man threatened. Scale closed his lips together tightly and the man chuckled. "That's right. What are you going to do?"

After the two corpses hit the ground of the lot with bent pieces of the gate around them Scale went up to the doors of the building which were two heavy steel doors that required a sort of scan to open up. Scale gripped the handle and pulled hard and the lock broke before he shoved it open. Scale walked passed the steel doors and observed as a large casino was set up inside with five different levels that only seemed to wrap around the walls for about twenty or so feet to allow for an opening in all the floors to accrue in the center of all of them. This allowed those who gathered around the opening and railings around such opening to look to higher or lower floors depending on which had the most commotion. Each floor had almost a pristine and almost clean feel if not for the contents of each floor. The sound of coin and two dozen gambling games was the background sound, behind all the voices of those inside. Scale growled a bit as his stomach twisted into half a dozen knots. This feeling he felt coming most primarily from the top floor of the casino. As he walked he watched a fauna girl serving small sandwiches on a platter. The odd thing about her was that she looked as she herself had not consumed anything for several days and had a steel collar around her neck.

Scale looked around at the different servants and found similar looking girls. Scale watched as whenever his vision went over them that it turned crimson as their trails flowed out of them like rivers and towards his being. The largest despair trail came from the top floor as it came down the opening in the floors. Slowly he made his way to the top floor and witnessed as these men and women laughed and gambled while the servants remained to look as if only a moments passing from death. Greed emanated out from them like smoke from a fire - polluting the very air that Scale breathed. His stomach twisted and turned as he passed them as his breathing became labored. He climbed up to the top floor which again had another door and two guards.

"You got a pass on this floor?" One of them asked before looking down at Scale's hand and watched as blood dripped from his palm and knuckle. "What the hell?"

Scale's hands shot out and wrapped around their necks and slammed them both into either wall to his side before snapping their necks. He dropped the corpses and used one of their keys to open the door and entered the top floor. A large group of these vile and disturbing people gathered around a single table on the right side of the floor. And from it, wade felt the despair trail come from. He walked over to the table and with his vision saw… a fauna girl on her knees on a table. Chains on her wrists and ankles and a collar around her neck wearing by all right would be nothing. Blood dripped down from her forehead and poured out from different cuts on her arms and chest.

"Now again the betting shall begin." One man said with a laugh as he stood at what was a roulette wheel built at the end of the table. "Place your bets."

The people began to place coins and cash onto the table on different numbers around the girl and next to each number had one or two words describing a different location of her body. The man at the wheel held a bloody knife and wore a twisted smile. Scale body shook as guards in heavy armor began to approach the table from behind him. Those around the table slowly began to notice him and move away from him allowing him a clear view of the girl on the table as she existed in the darkest crimson. The man at the wheel spoke.

"Oh, we have an unwelcomed quest. Would you like a turn on the table?" He chuckled as what seemed to be his personal bodyguard came up from behind with a revolver at his side and a cutlass at the other. Scale stared at the girl and walked up to her and put three fingers over her chest where her heart was.

"…" He remained silent. "You are filled with it… I can't… deal."

"Help me…" She whispered weakly to him. "I don't want to hurt… it hurts so much."

His fingers pierced her chest and through her heart. She gasped and coughed up a bit of blood as she looked at him in the eye as they filled with tears before smiling softly and collapsing onto the table. The crimson around her faded and the despair from her dispersed as Scale pulled back his hand. A guard slammed his baton on the back of Scale's head as hard as he could and the stick broke on the impact as Scale lurched forward slightly.

"Fucking aura." The guard grunted before Scale pierced five claws into his stomach and smashed the man through the table, sending coins and cash everywhere.

Another guard ran up and swung a metal bat like weapon at Scale's head. Scale bit into the bat hard and swung up his claws and cut off the man's forearm from the elbow before kicking the guard into a wall. Scale spun around hard with the bat and hit a sword in its path with such force that the sword shattered and the bat collided with the man's chest with still enough power to shatter all of his ribs and sending him flying into a couch. A barrage of assault rifle rounds hit scale's side and bounced off after his skin was indented only slightly. Scale crouched low and sprinted at the two guards with rifles at speeds that turned him into a blur. He spun like a tornado and cut both their throats and landed behind them. He pulled out his pistol and fired 5 shots into those who were at the table, killing seven of them. He aimed the last bullet at the man at the wheel and as he pulled the trigger his arm was knocked upwards by the man's personal guard.

"You're strong." The man said as he pushed up Scale's arm with the hand holding his high powered revolver.

With the man's other arm, he held his cutlass and stabbed into Scale's side as aura covered the blade to amplify it. He pulled out the cutlass and cut across his stomach. Scale kicked him back slightly and the man took Scale's pistol with him and tossed it into the floor's opening. The man looked at his cutlass and saw that he was only able to pierce 3 inches into Scale's side when normally the entire blade would have been able to enter the flesh. He looked up at the gash across Scale's hoodie and watched as the cut across his stomach stitched itself back together.

"Oh come on, you heal?" The man said annoyed as Scale growled.

Another guard with a hammer swung at Scale' side and slammed into Scale's right side rib cage. Scale's feet dug into the floor as he was pushed back a mere two inches while the guard arms and hammer shook as if he had just slammed the hammer into a steel wall. Scale slashed his claws through the man's torso from right shoulder to left hip and sprinted at the one that was able to stab him. Scale swiped at him and the man jumped back out of the way. Scale kept up the pace and the man continually jumped back or dodged backward out of the rapid rush. The man parried another swipe with his cutlass and shot into Scale's chest. Scale recoiled back and the man rushed in with another stab at Scale's stomach, but the moment the man got in front of him Scale other hand swung from up below, cutting the man's chest vertically as it curled into a fist and uppercutted the man backward twenty feet.

"Wh-what!?" The man gasped as he chest bleed from three different lines of cuts and his jaw feeling half broken. "He… it can cut through aura!?" He thought as he stumbled to his feet as Scale slowly walked towards him, leaning forward with claws to either side of him, attempting to steed himself. "What kind of fucked up power does this thing have?" He channeled his aura into his blade and right foot. "I got to take him out."

Scale leaped through the air with a howl and as he came down the man slammed his glowing foot into his chest and sent him flying towards the opening in the floor. The man jumped through the air with the glowing sword and pierced into Scale's chest as they two went over the opening. As the two feel down the opening the man kept Scale below him as he pointed the revolver into Scale's face. The two broke through a statue at the base floor and the man pulled the trigger point blank into Scale's eye socket as they two impacted the ground with a small explosion of steel, stone, and wood. The man panted as he kept a knee pressed against Scales chest before a smile cross his face as Scale's body remained limp underneath him.

"Take that!" He mocked with a broken jaw.

Scale's hand shot up from the side with claws extended and removed the man's head from his shoulders. Scale knocked the headless corpse off him and pushed himself to his feet as jagged pieces of stone and metal protruded out of his back. The pieces of debris fell out as the holes in his back closed and as for his right eye that was blown apart by the shot his vision slowly returned as it reformed – his vision came back as if slowly opening his eye. All around him he saw the panic and terrified faces of human filth as his vision remained in crimson and at the exit of the building he saw the man who spun the wheel, looking at him as he stood frozen in fear.

"No one…" Scale growled loudly and deeply like a wolf from hell. Color falling around him and giving way to crimson rage... "IS LEAVING HERE ALIVE!"

He pounced.


	10. Chapter 10

So, before I begin the next chapter. How can someone else say I f*cked up my own story? The whole deal with Scale is how different he is from both humans and Grimm and how he must learn how to deal with the pain caused by inner strife and the Despair Trails that are created by beings with souls. I introduced the other Humaniod grimm for different aspects of that idea. Yeah you can not like that Scale is not "One-of-a-kind" but hey maybe there is a point to other humaniod grimm huh? Also, yeah, I don't like using the word fucking. Just in general I don't like using it. So yeah, I'll censoring it any f***ing way I f***ing feel like it. Cause yeah, this is my story and I write it how I want to if you don't like it that's fine go find another story but don't be a f***ing prick about it.

This might be a bit petty for saying this but I'm kind of pissed off about a lot of f***ing things right now. Like getting kicked out of my house by my Dad. Or because my friend Overdosed and died a week before I posted the last chapter. Maybe its cause my dad – yeah, the one that kicked me out – told me he thinks he has cancer.

I write to get away from it all, I watch anime and cartoons and movies to get away from it all. So, if you have a problem with any of it go ahead, even leave some constructive criticism if you feel so inclined. But don't you dare say I fucked up my own story just cause it's not what you wanted. Just my own story itself is kind of fucked up right now.

* * *

Blood dripped from Scale's claws, almost pouring out from his palms, and his breathing labored and wheezed in pants. With each breath he drew more color returned to his vision allowing him to leave the crimson; though that statement itself was only true in the state of being. The wall were now splattered with blood taken from those both innocent and not, armed and unarmed, it did not matter as they were corpses all the same. The trails dissipated with each passing moment allowing for the pressure to slowly leave Scale's mind and muscles allowing for both to relax ever since entering this accursed city. Euphoria washing him just as the blood had covered him as the pain and sickening feeling left his being.

Body shaking as adrenaline lowered Scale's face twisted into a smile as he nearly collapsed against a wall. As he supported himself against the wall he heard slight pinging sounds that he mostly ignored. If he cared to have looked he would have noticed his flesh forcing out bullets out from his muscles and onto the floor of the building. As he finally calmed down Scale looked over his shoulder and allowed his vision to take in all of which he had done. Bodies ripped apart with pieces missing and limbs obscured in ways outside of possibility. Some bodies clung onto others – some defensively and others companionly – in hopes that it would somehow comfort or prevent them from the following pain. His eyes trailed over the bodies and traced a few others till they fell onto the first Servant girl he saw once entering. Her hair mangled and dyed red with her blood as her scalp was cut open down passed the bone – if not for that one fault she would have looked… peaceful. Shaking returned to Scale's hand as his heart began to beat and twist in a sensation that he remembered with dread.

"W…What did I just do?" Scale whimpered to himself as he pushed himself off the wall to stand up right.

The statement was not a question for what he did was no question to himself or any other. Every cut, every slash, every bite and tear that he did that night he remembered vividly behind a tint of Crimson. The flavor of blood fresh in his mouth Scale stared blankly and mourning forward, the taste being seemingly too familiar to spit out. Scale turned to the steel doors of the entrance and ran at them shoulder first. Breaking out into the lot of the building Scale's eyes darted around rapidly with similar head motions before locking onto the hills beyond the city. His entire began to shake once more as Despair Trails from the rest of the city slowly crept around him ever closer to his black skin. So he did the one thing he could think of – run.

Like a beast he ran with all fours he pulled and pushed his body with a speed of a demon just as fast as any motorbike if not faster. It took only a minute for him to leave the city and only ten more to be in the hills beyond still subconsciously drawn to something deeper in Mistral. A fissure, thirty-feet across, came up in his vision and just as it came it was beyond him as his body leapt through the air with momentum alone. Looking behind him for a moment Scale looked back at the fissure and in the same moment he crashed into a tree with a loud thud and sending all life in and around the tree to flee in a squall of flapping wings and cries of birds and rodents.

Scale howled in pain and rage and cut into the tree with his claws rapidly before digging into the wood and ripping it apart; removing it from its base. The wood cracked and snapped back along with a creak and hit the floor of the forest with echo. He panted hard and leaned against the newly created stump on his palms as his bruised side quickly healed. Fingers and claws dug into the wood and he gritted his teeth and asked once again.

"What did I just do?"

"You are enraged… Brother." A voice came from above. Scale look up and upon a tree and stared at one of his brothers.

"Never, what are ya doin' here?" Scale said as he uncurled his fingered out from the stump and began to pick out splinters from his bleeding palms.

"Beo seems distraught… this is odd." Never sniffed the air a few times. "Blood of man many… fresh."

"What are ya doin' here?" Scale asked again. Never wrapped his wings around himself and stared down at Scale with bead like eyes.

"Griff sent me to watch you… his choice." Never spoke. "Unsure of you, distrust maybe, same for me… I do now." His beak like mouth turned into a smile. "How many you kill… how many are dead?"

Scale looked down at his blood covered hands, of his or theirs he was uncertain. He looked back up at Never.

"I don't know." 74. "I lost myself."

"I've killed 97 since two days ago… going to kill more soon." Never continued to smile as he glided down on wing and stood in front of Scale. "When will you find the it… the one that needs to be killed?"

Scale moved to have Never get out of his face but Never followed right after with a slightly tilted head.

"I don't know just yet. She's deeper in Mistral, when I find her, I'll tell ya." Scale told his brother grimm. Never wings ruffled and he fluttered over to the fallen tree and his talons dug into the wood and stared at Scale with a blank expression that existed on the precise of what seemed to be annoyance.

"Beo why do you take so long… we need you to start. Why must you be the first when you were the last?" Never's talon's curled and cut into the wood casually. "The humans hurt us… cause us pain. So go faster."

Never spread out his wings and flew away calmly into the sky leaving the deep gnashes in the wood behind for Scale to stare at. Scale finally let out a long sigh and cut a straight and clean line on top of the stump with a swipe of his claw to make it flat and smooth before sitting down onto it. He looked forward through the shadow of night and through the trees for distances farther than a normal human, and in detail beyond that of any wolf. Once more he looked at his palms as the splinters pushed themselves out from his skin and muscle to drop to the ground by his feet. He sat there for a long while, just breathing and thinking about everything that he had just done and the things his brothers want him to do. The emotions in his head swirling in an impossible to understand stew of memories and feelings.

Was it wrong what he did? He was in pain, the girls were in pain, he ended both of theirs. The members of the casino were evil, the world was better with the dead. So why was it so wrong that he felt pleasure when they were all gone? Why did that… hurt him? All these things swirled around again and again in his head until the glaring light of the sun returned him to the world outside of his thoughts. Leaving only one remaining "Find the girl."


End file.
